Its muscular beauty was no accident; it was penned for looks as much as speed.

Ford GT40

Ford GT40

Everyone knows the story: Spurned by Enzo, an irate Henry Ford II (a.k.a. the Deuce) stabbed Ferrari in the heart at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans by taking the top three spots. The Blue Oval then owned the race for the next three years. Dearborn's contender, the GT40, was an evolution of the 1963 Lola Mk6 that borrowed heavily from the mid-engine 1962 Mustang 1 concept—small surprise, considering designer Roy Lunn was in charge of both cars. The GT40's muscular beauty was no accident; it was penned for looks as much as speed. Mark West explains why the Ford still makes our tongues wag decades later.

"People think of design as a narrative. With the GT40, you have this incredible story: the Deuce, Carroll Shelby, Gurney, big American personalities taking what we do—these huge, raw V8s—to the sophisticated Europeans. And then taking them down like nobody's business."

Mark West is the Paul and Helen Farago Chair of Transportation Design at the College for Creative Studies.